Mower-bar.



Patented February 7, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

OSWELL R. COE, OF WINDHAM, NEW YORK.

MOWER-BAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,006, dated. February '7, 1905.

Application filed August 11, 1904. Serial No. 220,347.

To (til whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OswELL R. Con, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Windham, in the county of Greene and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Mower-Bar, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to mower-bars or cutter-bars such as used in the construction of mowing-machines and harvesters.

The object of the invention is to produce a mower-bar of simple form which is so constructed as to prevent injury to the knives.

A special object has been to provide an arrangement which tends to reduce the force necessary to actuate the knives and also minimize the danger of clogging or choking the knife.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts to be more fully described hereinafter and definitely set forth in the claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of a mowerbar constructed in accordance with my invention. In connection with this view a crankdisk is shown which operates the cutter-bar. Fig. is also a plan of a portion of this cutterbar, the knife being represented as removed. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the iinger or guard of my invention. Fig. at is a cross-section through the mowerbar, and Fig. 5 is a plan showing a portion of the operating mechanism which drives the knife.

Before proceeding to a detail description of the invention it may facilitate the disclosure thereof to state certain ditiicultiesor d rawbacks which are inherent in mower-bars of common construction now in use. The mowerbars of the common construction now referred to usually comprise a plurality of fingers or guards arranged at the forward edge of the bar. The knife, provided with substantially triangular cutters, moves to and fro in the space between the guards, cutting the crop against the sides of the guards, as will be readily understood.

Vith this construction it is customary to reciprocate the knife so that each cutter moves to and fro from the center line of a certain guard to the center line of an adjacent guard. Ithas seemed necessary in practice to place the guards at a considerable distance apart, and under this arrangement it is possible for obstructions, such as stones, to pass into the spaces between the guards and to come into contact with the knife, with disastrous results to the cutters. It has been proposed to place the guards more closely together in order to prevent the passing of obstacles into the spaces between them; but when this arrangement exists a very marked tendency for the grass to choke between the guards manifests itself.

The construction about to be described appears to present an arrangement which prevents large stones and similar obstruct-ions from passing into the spaces between the guards and at the same time overcomes all tendencies to choke the bar with grass in the manner suggested.

Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 represents a linger-bar of any common construction to which a plurality of lingers or main guards 2 are attached, the same being provided with heads3 for this purpose, as shown. These heads are provided with transverse shoulders at, which abut the forward edge of the lingerbari, as indicated. Between the main guards 2 a plurality of intermediate or auxiliary guards 5 are arranged. The heads 6 of these guards are substantially similar to the heads 3 of the main guards. as shown. The bodies of the main guards are pointed forwardly, and the side edges T thereof diverge rearward ly, terminating in laterally-projecting shoulders 8. The bodies 2), however, of the intermediate guards 5 are cut away toward their rear, as shown most clearly in Figs. 1 and 2, so that toward the rear the side edges 10 of the auxiliary guards converge. Like the guards 2, however, the intermediate guards 5 are formed with shoulders 11, which abut against the shoulders 8, as indicated. All of the guards forwardly of the shoulders i are formed with reduced necks 12. The guards are all provided with wings 13, which project rearwardly over cutters 14:, which are carried by a knifeback 15, attached to the upper side thereof, as shown. As indicated most clearly in Fig. 4:, this knife-back 15 rests upon the reduced necks 12 and is guided up behind the shoulders 8 and 11 of the guards.

Referring especially to Fig. 4:, it should be observed that the finger-bar projects at its forward edge above the shoulders 4. At suitable points on the mower-bar rider-plates 16 are attached, which have downwardly-extending flanges 17 at their forward edges which rest upon the upper faces of the shoulders 4, the said rider-plates being clamped beneath riders 18, the forward portions whereof extend over the cutters 14 in the usual manner. The knifeback 15, in connection with the cutters 14, constitutes a knife 15, which is adapted to be reciprocated by means of a pitman 19, actuated by a crankdisk 20, which is driven continuously with the advancing implement in any suitable manner. The same arrangement is adopted for attaching all the guards.

In the operation of the mower-bar it should be understood that as it advances the intern1ediate guards 9 divide the tuft of grass between two adjacent main guards into two parts or separate wisps. As the knife 15 reciprocates these separate wisps are separately severed. This dividing of the grass before cutting is considered highly advantageous, as it has a marked tendency to prevent choking. In this connection it should be understood that the stroke or throw of the knife is substantially equal to the distance between the center Special attention is directed to the form of the opening or space between the guards. Upon, inspection of Figs. 1 and 2 it should appear that this space does not converge toward the rear beyond a certain point, so that there is little tendency for the separate tufts or wisps to choke as they move rearwardly between the guards. The invention readily lends itself to application in connection with ordinary mower-bars now in use, as the intermediate or auxiliary guards can be produced by cutting away ordinary guards at the proper points and forming them so that their side edges converge rearwardly. This is a valuable economic feature of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent In a mower-bar, in combination, a fingerbar, a plurality of main guards carried thereby, a plurality of auxiliary guards disposed intermediate of said main guards, the points of all of said guards alining, the side edges of the forward portions of all of said guards diverging rearwardly, the rear portions of the side edges of said auxiliary guards converging rearwardly, the same being disposed substantially parallel with the side edges of said main guards, a knife carrying cutters cooperating with said guards, and means for driving said cutters to and fro between adjacent members of said main guards.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OSWELL R. COE.

IVitn esses:

F. D. AMMEN, JNo. M. BITTER. 

